Smart item technologies may include, for example, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, embedded systems, sensor motes, and/or smart item networks, and may be used, for example, to provide business software applications with fast access to real-world data. For example, smart item technologies may be used support the detection, reading, or writing of RFID tags, as well as to support communication with, and control of, wireless smart item networks and embedded systems. In many instances, smart items may include devices that have local processing power, memory, and/or communication capabilities, and that are capable of providing data about the device and its properties, or information about a current state or environment of the smart item devices. Accordingly, some such devices may be used in the execution of service components of backend or underlying enterprise applications, and, in particular, may do so in a collaborative way, e.g., by forming mobile ad-hoc networks to collect, process, or transmit data.
Examples of smart item devices include RFID tags, which may be passive or active, and which may be attached to a real-world object and used to provide product or handling information related to the object. Other examples of smart item devices includes transceivers, for example, various sensors, such as, environmental sensors (e.g., a temperature, humidity, or vibration sensor), which, as just referenced, may be capable of communicating to form one or more smart item networks. For example, sensors within a sensor network may send messages autonomously without being triggered to send a message. These and other types of smart item devices also may include embedded systems, which may refer generally to any system in which a special-purpose processor and/or program is included, and/or in which the system is encapsulated in the device being controlled.
Through automatic real-time object tracking, smart item technology may provide businesses with accurate and timely data about business operations, and also may help streamline and automate the business operations. Accordingly, cost reductions and additional business benefits (e.g., increased asset visibility, improved responsiveness, and extended business opportunities) may be obtained.
In some scenarios, data received from smart items may be received from a large number of smart items and provided to a number of different backend or underlying enterprise applications that can use the data for a variety of different analyses, functions, and business processes. Each backend application may require the receipt of messages in different incompatible formats, which may pose challenges when a large number of smart items messages are received and provided to the different backend applications.